Ayrburn Homestead Central Otago Pinot Noir 2024 $65 Exotically spiced and roaring with dark cherry saturation, typical of fruit ripened under the baking Bendigo heat. Baked rhubarb, rooibos tea, heightened blueberry and blackcurrant characters merge with seductively spiced, smoky oak, juicy, grainy tannins and showing a strong, warming, muscular, sinewy finish. Deliciously drinkable now, yet … Read More
Pinot Noir
Ayrburn Central Otago Bonnet Rouge Nouveau Pinot Noir 2023
Ayrburn Central Otago Bonnet Rouge Nouveau Pinot Noir 2023 $45 The winemaking team at Ayrburn have opted to have a crack at crafting a lighter ‘nouveau’ style pinot noir that’s just as happy being chilled down to serve on a sizzling day, or sipped fireside during winter. Aromatically it’s ultra-bright, perky, roaring with redcurrant, raspberry, … Read More
Lansdowne Estate Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2014
Lansdowne Estate Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2014 $42 Hear me out. Sometimes you can find absolute treasures inside the most unassuming packaging. This wine is an excellent example of that. Eleven years old and made by one of the Wairarapa’s legendary winemakers, Karl Johner, this pinot noir, grown on the original Beetham-owned farm (famous for Heritage … Read More
Lateral Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir 2022
Lateral Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir 2022 $40 Crafted by Austin Black and Pip Battley are the talented twosome behind this punchy, plucky pinot noir. Slightly unusual in that it comes in a Bordeaux bottle, but nothing unusual about its classic Gibbston Valley vavoom. Stacked with ripe rhubarb, dark cherry, bright berries, black tea and complex … Read More
Folding Hill Orchard Block Central Otago Pinot Noir 2021
Folding Hill Orchard Block Central Otago Pinot Noir 2021 $65 Named after the western boundary of the vineyard, which happens to be an orchard of cider apple trees and the most sheltered spot on the vineyard site. It’s a super-stylish example and more intensely aromatic and textural than the previous vintage. An extended 18-month maturation … Read More
Schubert Martinborough Rose 2023
Schubert Martinborough Rose 2023 $39 Crafted from 100% Pinot Noir grown in Kai Schubert’s tiny wee vineyard in central Martinborough, this limited edition rosé is the cutest colour of freshly filleted trout and has lifted aromatics of pink peppercorn, white strawberry, quince, quartzy minerality and redcurrant and soft raspberry. All those delicious things osmose across … Read More
Q Waitaki Valley Rosé 2024
Q Waitaki Valley Rosé 2024 $35 I love the pale trout coral colour and how its nose erupts with white raspberry, soft cherry, white pepper and fleshy, Pink Lady apple notes. Wickedly good stuff here from Waitaki, a region which sits on the border of South Canterbury and North Otago. Stuff which boasts a hint … Read More
Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2023
Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2023 $42 Fruit harvested from Rockburn’s Gibbston Valley Back Road vineyard and their Parkburn vineyard has been shepherded from berry to bottle by winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis, and every sip contains his signature, gum-tingling style. Prepare for baked rhubarb, dark cherry, 5-spice, black tea and redcurrant characters to wash across your … Read More
Folding Hill Ballasalla Central Otago Pinot Noir 2023
Folding Hill Ballasalla Central Otago Pinot Noir 2023 $35 (Gold Medal 5 stars – dish Magazine Issue 121) The new Ballasalla has excellent energy, power and stacks of spice that’ll soothe the throat and clear the nose. Powerfully perfumed with redcurrant, raspberry, rhubarb crumble and smoked cherry topping, this wine saturates the palate with all … Read More
Moko Hills Bendigo Pinot Noir 2022
Moko Hills Bendigo Pinot Noir 2022 $59 Donald van der Westhuizen clearly has Pinot Noir roaring through his veins as evidenced by his eking out bottles of brilliance from the schisty slopes of Bendigo. His 2022 vintage is unfined, unfiltered and scented with smoked cherry, freshly sliced rhubarb, white pepper and sous bois sensations (which … Read More